🤝 Hill's new frenemies

Plus: Pelosi eyes gay marriage vote | Monday, June 27, 2022

Open in app View in browser     Axios Sneak Peek By Alayna Treene, Hans Nichols and Zachary Basu · Jun 27, 2022 Welcome back to Sneak. Smart Brevity™ count: 932 words ... 3.5 minutes. 🗳️ Situational awareness: California voters will decide in a November ballot measure whether to add a state constitutional amendment enshrining the right to an abortion. ⚡ Breaking: At least three people were killed and dozens injured after an Amtrak train collided with a truck and derailed in rural Missouri. The latest.     1 big thing: Hill's frenemies Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   The warring left and right flanks in Congress are finding surprising agreement on a triple crown of huge issues — foreign influence in U.S. politics, stock trading by members of Congress and the power of Big Tech. Why it matters: Those issues all reflect the two parties' increasing efforts to appeal to the working class — and hold official Washington to account, Axios' Sophia Cai writes. Between the lines: The legislative clock is running out ahead of the midterms, but these are three clear areas in which lawmakers may find compromise even in a fractured government. 1. Foreign influence: A disparate group of House members, from the Trump-loving Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) to the liberal consumer protection attorney Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), has introduced a bill to curb foreign influence in U.S. democracy. It would impose a lifetime ban on members of Congress, senior military leaders and senior executive branch officials from lobbying for a foreign government or political party. 2. Stock trading: Earlier this year, the effort to ban members of Congress from trading stock gained serious momentum when both MAGA Republicans and progressives embraced the long-sought-after measure. Some of the most conservative Republicans, like Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), have teamed up with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on the issue. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced his own stock ban bill. 3. Big Tech: The left and right agree on the need for greater regulatory control and want to hold social media companies more accountable for how they police content — though for different reasons. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) want to get their bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, on the Senate floor this summer before time and momentum run out. The big picture: Warren told Axios that issues like the stock ban are "about restoring confidence in our government, and that should be a nonpartisan effort." Share this story.     2. 🚨 Trump's new jeopardy Data: Axios research. Table: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Three developments today in the many investigations surrounding former President Trump and his inner circle: John Eastman, the architect of the scheme to have then-Vice President Mike Pence unilaterally reject Joe Biden's electors, had his phone seized by the FBI last week, Eastman's lawyers revealed in a court filing. The House Jan. 6 committee called a surprise hearing for tomorrow at 1pm ET to "present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony," after originally planning to postpone its remaining hearings until July. A federal grand jury in New York issued subpoenas to each board director of the blank check company that agreed to take public Trump's social media startup, Truth Social.     3. 🤫 Harris: Clarence Thomas "just said the quiet part out loud" Screenshot via CNN In her first interview since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Vice President Kamala Harris said Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion means freedoms related to contraception, gay marriage and other established precedents could be at risk. "I definitely believe this is not over. I do. I think he just said the quiet part out loud," Harris told CNN's Dana Bash. "I never believed them," Harris, a former member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, added about Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch's past statements, in particular, affirming Roe was a long-held precedent. "That's why I voted against them." What to watch: Harris pledged that the Biden administration would "do everything within our power" to ensure women have access to FDA-approved abortion medication and the freedom to travel to states without abortion restrictions. That includes "looking at" vouchers or other forms of federal support for women who can't afford to travel to receive an abortion. Harris poured cold water on progressive calls to establish abortion services on federal land, saying "it's not right now what we are discussing." She also refused to endorse eliminating the Senate filibuster to codify abortion protections. Instead, Harris stressed, the focus should be on the midterms: "If you count the votes, we don't appear to have the votes in the Senate. Well, there's an election happening in 130-odd days. ... We need to change the balance and have pro-choice legislators who have the power to make decisions about whether this constitutional right will be in law."     A message from Axios Introducing Axios DC     Get a daily digest of what's new in your hometown with the new Axios DC newsletter. Local reporters will deliver scoops, offer sharp insights and curate the best local reporting in our proven "Smart Brevity" style. Subscribe for free.     4. 🏛️ Pelosi eyes gay marriage vote Pelosi during yesterday's Pride Parade in San Francisco. Photo: Arun Nevader/Getty Images   House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also homed in on Thomas' concurrence in a "Dear Colleague" letter today previewing the steps House Democrats will take in the wake of the Roe decision, Axios' Andrew Solender reports: In addition to federal abortion protections, Pelosi vowed to introduce legislation codifying freedoms like access to contraception and gay marriage — accusing Thomas of "taking aim at additional long-standing precedent and cherished privacy rights." 👀 What to watch: Unlike Harris, Pelosi explicitly called on voters to expand Democrats' majorities in November "so that we can eliminate the filibuster," casting it as the most realistic way to "restore women's fundamental rights."     5. 🇮🇩 Parting shot: Biden's emissary Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images   President Biden embraces Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, a guest of the G7 summit in Elmau, Germany, who will head next to Kyiv and Moscow to urge the leaders of Ukraine and Russia to reopen peace talks. The Kremlin confirmed today that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend November's G20 summit hosted by Indonesia — despite Biden's calls for Russia's expulsion.     A message from Axios Introducing Axios DC     Get a daily digest of what's new in your hometown with the new Axios DC newsletter. Local reporters will deliver scoops, offer sharp insights and curate the best local reporting in our proven "Smart Brevity" style. Subscribe for free.   📬 Thanks for reading! Send us tips by hitting reply to this newsletter or emailing us at sneak@axios.com. Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. 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